USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 55
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Doctor Goff was married in 1885 to Jennie P. Britton, daughter of Charles H. and Laura (Hodges) Britton. She was born in Elkhorn, but lived in the town of Berlin, Green Lake county, at the time of her marriage. Her parents were originally from New York. Her grandfather. Edwin Hodges, was one of the first settlers in Elkhorn, having emigrated to this county from New York in pioneer days. Two children have been born to the Doctor and wife, namely: Rispah B., born in 1891, and Sidney B .. born in 1899.
The subject and wife belong to the Congregational church. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. He was a charter member of the local camp of Modern Woodmen, which camp was the first organized in Wisconsin, and was started within a year of the organization of the order.
Doctor Goff was elected chairman of the Walworth county Republican committee in 1904 and again elected to the saine organization in 1906. Ile has been a member of the Elkhorn Cornet Band since 1878, one of the best bands in this part of the state.
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In childhood the Doctor developed a natural talent for mechanical work and at the age of sixteen years he made a small steam engine which worked successfully, being well made,-in fact, there seems to be little difference between it and a real locomotive except in size. He also had a well developed talent for making toy ships, which in their completeness of detail rival the large sailing vessels. Since reaching manhood he has found recreation in collecting Indian relics and other curios, now possessing a large and valuable collection, some of them being very rare, as well as beautiful.
Personally, the Doctor is a kind, genial, obliging and sociable gentleman whom it is a pleasure to meet.
HENRY DELAFAYETTE ADKINS.
Henry DeLafayette Adkins, the efficient and well known cashier of the First National Bank of Elkhorn, is a worthy representative of one of the oldest and best known families of Walworth county. Time and prolific enterprise have wrought wonderful changes in this section since he first saw the light of day, and the great section no longer depends upon its initial industry of lumbering but has been brought forward to the high plane which marks the older sections of the commonwealth. The Adkins family have played no inconspicuous role in this development.
Mr. Adkins was born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, on January 10, 1864. He is the son of Henry Breckenridge Adkins and Emma (Cronk) Adkins, the father a son of Henry and Betsey Ant ( Adams) Adkins. Henry Adkins, son of Henry and Martha Adkins, was born on December 23, 1812, in county Kent, England. In his youth he was apprenticed to learn the drug business and he served three and one-half years. In 1833. when twenty-one years old, he emigrated to the United States, locating in Oneida county. New York, where he married Betsey Ann Adams, daughter of William Adams and wife. She was born in Otsego county, New York. September 10, 1813. In 184t he and his family came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and located on a farm in Sugar Creek township, moving the following year to Lagrange township, entering eighty acres of land from the government. in section 14. In the autumn of 1854 he was elected register of deeds and in December of that year moved to Elkhorn and entered upon his official duties. He was re-elected and served four years. While there he started the original books now in use by the Walworth County Abstract Company.
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After his term of office had expired he entered the abstract business. in which he remained until 1863, when he engaged as a clerk in the First National Bank of Elkhorn. He finally became assistant cashier and vice- president and was active in the affairs of the bank until his death in 1889, and was one of the substantial and influential men of the county.
The Adkins family consisted of the following children: Elizabeth, who married Reuben Eastwood, died on March 5, 1892; Henry B., father of Henry DeLafayette, of this sketch; Charlotte Isabell, who was born in New York, now lives in Elkhorn; Zehrua A., born in 1841, is the wife of Charles D. Root and lives at Lake Mills, Wisconsin ; William E., born September 4, 1847, died July 13, 1903; Mary Lydia died in early childhood ; Mary Ellen, who married Preston Smith, died on December 28, 1889; John Charles, born April 28, 1856, died on April 26, 1911. Henry Breckenridge Adkins, father of the subject, was born near Utica, Oneida county, New York, on January 17, 1839. He came to this county as a child with his parents, in 1841. He received a fairly good education, and was an excellent penman, but preferred mechanical work to clerical confinement. He learned the painter's trade, which he followed most of his life. He was married on January 1, 1862, to Emma Cronk, who was born in Dutchess county, New York. in 1842. She was the daughter of Acel and Polly ( James) Cronk. Her father was born in Dutchess county. New York, in 1803. and her mother was born at Clifton Park, Saratoga county, New York, in 1802. The Cronk family came to this county in the early days. Acel Cronk died on December 28, 1881, his wife having died on December 14, 1880.
On December 10. 1863, Henry B. Adkins enlisted in Company K. Thirtieth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served his country well in those trying times during the Civil war, his labors being for the most part con- fined to Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Kentucky. He was hon- orably discharged in September, 1865. After the war he made his home in Elkhorn during the principal part of his remaining life. His wife died on November 9, 1901. and he survived until November 16, 1907.
As a companion, whether at home or in business life, the father of the subject was always agreeable, kind, obliging and always fair in his relations with his fellow men. He was a keen observer and kept well posted on cur- rent events.
The children of Henry B. Adkins and wife were as follows: Henry D). L., of this sketch: Jessie Lena, wife of George Ranney Short, of Sanger, California.
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The immediate subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Elkhorn and he received a good education in the local schools. He entered the First Na- tional Bank of this city on October 1, 1882, and has been with this popular institution ever since. Starting as a clerk, he later became bookkeeper, which position he held for a number of years. He became assistant cashier in 1896, and in July, 1911, he became cashier, and has thus been an employe of this bank for over thirty years, having given the utmost satisfaction to the stock- holders and patrons, always discharging his duties in a manner that re- flected much credit upon his ability and fidelity, his honor and integrity never being questioned. He has kept well informed on financial matters and has been a profound student of banking affairs. He is secretary and treasurer in group Five of the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
Mr. Adkins has been city clerk, which position he held a number of years at the time the village was merged into a city. He represented his ward on the board of supervisors for a number of years. He and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church, and for about twenty years he has been chorister of the church.
Mr. Adkins was married in 1896 to Jennie McDougald, of Elkhorn, daughter of William and Eugenia ( Foster ) MeDougald, and to this union one child has been born, Jessie Lonesa, whose birth occurred on December 30, 1897.
Mr. Adkins was a charter member of the local lodge of Knights of Pythias, and he has been active in lodge affairs, having held all the chairs in the local lodge and has received the grand lodge honors.
JOHN H. HARRIS.
Examples that impress force of character on all who study them are worthy of record in the annals of history wherever they are found. By a few general observations the biographer hopes to convey in the following paragraphs, succinctly and yet without fulsome encomium, some idea of the high standing of John H. Harris, of Elkhorn, as a business man and public benefactor, one of the representative citizens of Walworth county. Those who know him best will readily acquiesce in the statement that many ele- ments of a solid and practical nature are united in his composition and which during a series of years have brought him into prominent notice throughout the southern portion of the state, his life and achievements earning for him a conspicuous place among his compeers.
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Mr. Harris was born in Jefferson county, New York, August 29, 1856. He is the son of James B. and Rachael ( Cheney) Harris, the mother a native of Jefferson county. New York, daughter of an old family of that state. James B. Harris was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and when a boy he emi- grated to Ingersoll. Canada, with his parents, where his brother and other relatives had preceded him. He came down into the state of New York, probably about 1850, and there married Rachael Cheney, and he conducted a cheese factory in Jefferson county, that state, most of his life.
Two sons and three daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. James B. Harris, namely : John H .. of this sketch; Minnie is the wife of John Mc- Kelvie and they live in southern Kansas; Belle, who was a teacher in the New York schools, died there in 1910; Maria, the fourth child in order of birth, married C. O. Roberts, and they live in Philadelphia, Jefferson county, New York: George B., third in order of birth, was born February, 1860, has al- ways been in the creamery business, being at present associated with the sub- ject in the management of the Wisconsin Butter & Cheese Company, of which there are several branches, he being in charge of the one at Waukesha, in which city he resides, having moved there in 1891 from Spring Prairie, where he had lived up to that time. He married Alma Coleman, daughter of James Coleman and wife, an excellent family of Spring Prairie, and George B. and his wife have five children, John C., Hugh. George. Robert and Helen.
John H. Harris grew to manhood in New York and there received his education, remaining in his native community until the spring of 1879, when he came to Clinton Junction, Wisconsin, where he lived something more than a year, then moved to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1880, and located about seven miles east of Elkhorn, in Spring Prairie township. There he operated a cheese factory until 1890, when he and Walter .1. West, George B. Harris and George B. Puffer formed the Wisconsin Butter & Cheese Com- pany, one of the best known companies of its kind in the state, a large, pros- perous and growing concern, a complete account of which is to be found on another page of this work. The subject is president of this company and its splendid success is due largely to his able management.
Mr. Harris has long been active and influential in public affairs and is an ardent Republican. In 1898 he was elected state senator, and he served his constituents in a manner that won their hearty approval and reflected much credit upon himself.
Mr. Harris has been very successful in a business way, being a man of progressive ideas, sound judgment and keen discernment. Aside from his large cheese manufacturing interests. he owns a valuable and finely improved
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farm of one hundred acres in the southwestern part of the city limits of Elkhorn. Here he has an excellent barn, worthy of special mention because of its size, convenience and completeness, a model dairy barn in every respect. He is a breeder of full-blood Holstein cattle and is taking a great deal of interest in improving and enlarging his herd.
The domestic life of Mr. Harris began on September 5, 1882, when he was united in marriage with Effie G. Webber, daughter of Loring O. and Mary ( Fairbanks) Webber. She was born in Raymond, Racine county, this state. Her mother's people came from the state of New York. Loring O. Webber was one of the first settlers of Racine county, and his father erected the first frame house built in that county.
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Harris, namely: Cora Belle, wife of Clarence \. Arp. lives in Chicago, where he is connected with the Universal Cement Company: James L. lives with his father in Elkhorn ; Robert Bruce and Ruth M. are also at home.
Mr. Harris is a thirty-second-degree Mason, and he belongs to the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
RICHARD POWERS.
It is proper to judge of the success and the status of a man's life by the estimation in which he is held by his fellow citizens. They see him at his work, in his family circle, in his church, hear his views on public questions, observe the outcome of his code of morals, witness how he conducts himself in all the relations of society and civilization and thus become competent to judge of his merits and demerits. After a long course of years of such daily observation it would be out of the question for his neighbors not to know his worth, because, as has been said. "Actions speak louder than words." Throughout Walworth county there is nothing but good words heard concerning Richard Powers, well known banker of Lake Geneva. He has passed his life here and his worth is well known, but it will be of in- terest to run over the busy events of his unusually busy, successful and useful life in these pages, for he is one of the native sons whom the county delights to honor, being the scion of one of our sterling old pioneer families.
Mr. Powers was born on December 31. 1848. in Lyons, Walworth county, Wisconsin. He is the son of Patrick and Margaret ( Derene ) Pow- ers. The father was born in county Kilkenny, Ireland, and there spent his
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boyhood, emigrating to America when about eighteen years old, in 1828. He lived in St. Louis many years. He came to this county on January 6. 1845, and located on a farm in Lyons township, east of Lake Geneva, on land now owned by Homan Brothers. There Richard Powers resided until he was forty-four years old, having worked hard to develop a good farm.
Mr. Powers was one of a family of four children, namely: William ; Michael, who died when young; Richard, of this sketch; and John, who is now living in Dakota.
The father of these children farmed the rest of his life east of Lake Geneva, becoming one of the substantial men of that community and he established a comfortable home there, where he lived until his death, in 1868, his widow surviving until 1882. He was active in public affairs, holding a number of township offices in Lyons township, and he was one of the pioneers who helped build the first Catholic church at Lake Geneva, and he was liberal in his support of the same the rest of his life.
Richard Powers followed general farming and stock raising success- fully until he was forty-four years of age. For nearly thirty years he has been interested in Dakota lands and for two seasons he engaged in shipping horses there. He is still interested in Dakota farm lands and has been very successful in this line of endeavor. He and his brother own in part- nership about twenty-four hundred acres there. They built the first cream- ery in North Dakota and for a period of thirteen years operated the same most successfully, benefiting both themselves and the farmers over a wide territory. They were compelled to furnish the cows in order to get it started, but when the farmers there saw the great value of the same they went into it heartily.
Mr. Powers is also interested in two banks in this county, also two banks in Montana, being president of one of the Montana banks at Bain- ville. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers National Bank at Lake Geneva, and he is at present in charge of the department of loans, discounts and collections of that institution. He has been very successful in whatever he has been engaged, being a business man of rare acumen, sound judgment and foresight, by nature an organizer and promoter and able to foresee with remarkable accuracy the future outcome of a present transaction. He is one of the substantial and influential business men of the county and he has won the good will and esteem of all with whom he has come into contact as a result of his industry and integrity.
Mr. Powers was married in 1880 to Bridget Cassin, a native of Ire- land, born and reared near Waterford, from which country she came to
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America in early life and located in Walworth county, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Powers are the parents of five children, named as follows: Margaret, who married Oliver T. Cody, lives in Chicago: May is at home with her parents in Lake Geneva; William is in the bank at Bainville, Montana, of which he is cashier : Edward is assistant cashier of the bank at Bainville : John is superintendent of the farm in North Dakota. These children have received good educations and are well launched in life's affairs.
Mr. Powers and family are faithful members of the Catholic church. Personally, the subject is a quiet, unassuming, obliging and genial gentle- man, whom it is a pleasure to meet.
CEYLON COURT.
One of the most attractive villas of southern Wisconsin is Ceylon Court, the Lake Geneva home of John J. Mitchell, at the east end of the lake, which comprises about thirty acres of the most beautiful grounds in the lake region of Walworth county.
The original structure of the residence was the Ceylon building at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893, which was brought here in sections and rebuilt. It stands on high ground overlooking the lake, every part of which can be seen from the tower and, in fact, near all the lake shore places can be seen, the point of view being nearly three hundred feet above the water. Approaching from the lake, one lands at the pier beside which rides at anchor the splendid white steam yacht. "Louise," with its gold mountings and luxurious furnishings. There is also a sailing yacht and a motor boat. A short distance up the lake is the convenient bath-house, from which the family and friends bathe in the lake.
The shore rises somewhat steeply and is built up in narrow terraces of boulders and large field stones into an attractive grotto overgrown with Boston ivy and on each terrace grow many varieties of flowers in season. Winding up along the terraces, the walk leads to the tunnel through which one goes to the hydraulic elevator that takes one up into the residence.
The house is octagonal in general outline, decorated with exquisitely carved wood work from the island of Ceylon. The roofs are red tile, of Ceylonese architecture. Additions have been made to the original structure. making it roomier and enhancing the general beauty of the building. Even the chinmeys are of terra cotta and are fine works of art. The furnishings
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match the carved Ceylon wood, much of the furnishings being of Japanese style. Throughout the house are to be found the comforts and furnishings that one would expect a man of Mr. Mitchell's means and esthetic tastes to have. About the grounds are a number of other buildings, all built after the same general style of architecture.
The boat-house is commodious and well arranged, handsomely finished, adjoining which is the laundry, finer than the average good residence, and equipped with the most approved machinery and appliances for high-grade work. Not far from the boat-house, about two hundred feet from the lake. is an immense never-failing spring lined with marble, over which is a little open house, in the same style as the other buildings, with seats around the sides for the accommodation of visitors to the grounds. The latter being thrown open to the public, visitors are usually taken here the first place after their arrival at the lake, when they start out to view the places of interest and most attraction. All about the front of the main residence, in summer, may be seen a great bank of tropical plants. The grounds have been set with many hardy plants which remain alive all winter, and in addition to them about thirty thousand other plants are set out annually, in the best taste that an expert can devise. The broad, well-kept lawns are studded with natural forest trees and ornamental evergreens. Nearby is a rose-garden containing about five thousand plants of one hundred and fifty varieties, which would have delighted the poet Omar Khayyaim, who loved his Persian gardens of rare blooms.
Over on the farm, across the Lakeside Drive, there is a series of green- houses covering about thirty thousand square feet, containing roses, orchids, palms and many other plants, a number of them tropical, from which come the supplies of Ceylon Court and also for Mr. Mitchell's home in Chicago. Fruit trees are grown in large pots and brought to the residence for fruits and decoration. No finer varieties of fruit trees could be found in this coun- try, in fact, all the trees and shrubbery on the grounds are of the best varie- ties obtainable, many having been brought from remote localities. Until the summer of 1911 there was a deer park on the grounds, containing forty- four deer. These were presented to Lincoln Park. Chicago, by Mr. Mitchell, and there they are now kept, and the ground has been made into a garden of wild flowers.
Coming to the place by land from the city of Lake Geneva the visitor goes south over the Lake Shore Drive, and comes to one of the several en- trances to Ceylon Court, through massive gateways, made of granite from the fields. The broad gravel driveways wind about through the park, and
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from them one may see a stretch of lawn about two hundred feet long and ten feet wide. on each side of which is a mass of scarlet flowers extending the entire distance, in beds about six feet wide. Other designs in flower beds are to be seen, but so arranged as not to make it too conventional nor to detract from the natural beauty of the undulating surface of the park.
Across the Lake Shore drive to the east lies Ceylon Court farm, also the property of Mr. Mitchell and a part of the same establishment. Ceylon Court is under the supervision of Alfred John Smith, whose record appears on another page of this work, and Ceylon Court farm is under the super- vision of Harry E. Cocroft, who is well known in this county, and a sketch of whom. and his family appears elsewhere in this work.
Ceylon Court farm is of commanding interest, not merely because it is improved and kept up in a manner that can be afforded only by the wealthy. but because it is the home of a number of domestic animals that are world champions of their species. Furthermore. it is kept not merely as a matter of pride, but as a benefit to the surrounding country.
It was only a little more than ten years ago that Mr. Mitchell began building up this farm. In 1901 he purchased of F. H. Chandler the Ceylon building and fifteen acres of land surrounding it at the lake shore, which was already a place of great beauty. He also bought of the same gentleman a ten-acre tract one-fourth mile east of Ceylon Court, and that was the nucleus of the present farm. Most of this was underbrush and swamp. In 1903 he put thirty to forty men to work clearing and cleaning up the land, and draining it. A small portion of the land had already been improved and on it was the coach barn and carriage house, a building sixty by two hundred and twenty feet.
In the carriage house may be seen eighteen carriages, all the later styles of vehicles, from the old-fashioned stage-coach to the modern baby cart. It is a common occurrence in the summer to see Mr. Mitchell and his family out in the old-fashioned stage-coach, with four high-stepping horses. In 1903 a horse barn was built, in which are kept twenty-six of the best coach- horses that could be bought in America. The same year a cow barn was built, thirty-four by one hundred and thirty feet, to which has been added an extension, twenty-four by one hundred and sixty feet. These buildings are models of their kind. They have concrete floors, concrete mangers, hot and cold water and are lighted by electricity. In the cow barn there are lights in each stall for cows and calves and also the barn is equipped with machines. operated by electricity, for milking the cows. These machines. properly used, have been found to be a success in every way.
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In 1904 Mr. Mitchell imported from the island of Jersey twenty-four head of the best Jersey cattle to be found on the island, and he now has seventy-six head of Jerseys, ranging from five hundred dollars to three thousands dollars in value each, and several for which he has refused twenty- five hundred dollars each.
In 1904 a chicken house was also built, large enough to accommodate four thousand chickens, and at this writing the place is stocked with over three thousand fowls. This, too, is a thoroughly up-to-date plant, heated by hot water, and chickens are hatched every month in the year, incubators and brooders being used. In 1904 Mr. Mitchell purchased two hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining, and the following year another horse barn was built. which is sixty-four by eighty feet, of stone construction and is well kept. The same year he built a creamery, where there is a spring that furnishes an inch stream day and night for cooling the milk. This is one of the most up- to-date creameries in this part of the state. In the same year was also built a hog house which accommodates sixty hogs. It has floors and troughs of cement. An up-to-date dog house was built in 1906, of cement floor, and heated with hot water. The house contains wire cages, and here may be seen seven varieties of dogs. The same year a new water system was also installed, and a drilled well. two hundred and ninety-seven feet deep. from which water is pumped with a gasoline engine. The various buiklings are supplied with electric lights, the electricity being furnished from the city plant. In 1908 Mr. Mitchell purchased the Cliff Arnold farm of ninety acres, adjoining on the east, which has been converted into a hog farm, fitted with all the latest improvements for caring for hogs. English Berkshires, Ches- ter White, Duroc Jersey Reds are to be found here, all registered stock and the best that money can buy. In 1910 a three-storied horse barn was built, forty-four by one hundred and forty feet, of cement block and concrete, with pebble dash outside, joists of steel and cement floors, all casings and posts being of steel. In this barn we find the champion Belgian stallions and mares of America, which were the best in Belgium before their importation. In three months after landing here they won the championship at the Inter- national Exhibition at Chicago. Here are also to be found the champion Percheron horses. The mares won both the first and second prizes at all the leading horse shows in 1910. Mr. Mitchell also owns the three first prize Percheron stallions, imported in 1910. In English Shire horses he has at the head of the mares "Selffridge Pride." the prize winning mare of England and also of America, having won first prize at the London show in May, 1910, and in August, of that year. won first and championship at Dos
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